I went to my regular check up on January 2nd and my doctor did a membrane sweep. About 4 hours later I started feeling small contractions. I got in the rocking recliner and started rocking myself back and forth and I feel like it helped keep the contractions going (probably not). I started timing them but they were all over the place and not very painful. I decided to keep myself moving and cleaned the kitchen cabinets then went to bed. Contractions started getting worse once I layed down. I kept timing and they eventually were every 5 minutes sometimes 7 minutes. They were more painful now but I could still breathe through them. I decided to wake my husband up and we went to l&d.; They hook me up to a monitor and this nurse checked my cervix and I about flew out of the chair because she was not gentle at all. I was dilated to a 2. I stayed on the monitor for almost an hour. The nurse comes back and says that my contractions are every 5 to 3 minutes and it was false labor and said don't come back until they are 2 minutes apart for one hour. Gave me a Percocet and sent me home without checking my cervix again (Thankfully). We leave and go home and they are already getting closer together. At this point I was thinking to myself how the hell am I going to know what real labor is like if this isn't it??? We get home and I lay down. Contractions were now 4 to 3 minutes apart. I all of a sudden had to run to the bathroom because I had diarrhea. I woke my husband up and made him call l&d; and tell them I couldn't handle it anymore and they told us to come back. Let me just say the car ride back to the hospital sucked so bad. It's about 35 minutes. I couldn't speak through contractions and the Percocet was making me nauseous when I was breathing. We get there and the elevator to l&d; was BROKEN. I was in so much pain and crying and someone that worked there saw and helped us get to where we needed to be. They hook me up to monitors again and this time my doctor came in and checked my cervix and I was at a 4. So either the nurse before had huge hands(felt like she did) or I progressed 2 centimeters in two hours. The doctor broke my water then they immediately got me hooked up on IVs and got the paperwork for the epidural and the guy was there in five minutes. I was so thankful!!! They had me lean over the bed and he gave me the epidural. It surprisingly didn't hurt. I felt better instantly. I layed back and relaxed.

This is where it gets real.

A few hours go by and I can suddenly feel pain in my butthole!! Like someone is stabbing me with a knife. I hit the epidural button and it does nothing. The nurse comes in and checks me and I'm at a 9 almost to a 10. Now I can feel when the contractions are coming and it hurts so bad in my butt and my body starts to naturally push on its own. I tell the nurse and she said to just breathe through it. Easier said then done! This hurt so bad! I'm left in the room for maybe 10 minutes and three nurses come in and start helping me practice push. I couldn't feel my legs enough to lean up and push so my husband would push my back and neck up when it was time and this helped tremendously! I did this for what felt like forever. My contractions started to slow down so they gave me pitocin to make them come faster so I could push back to back. I push a few more times and I can feel that sharp pain getting 10 times worse. I start to feel a lot of pressure down there that wasn't going away. Then my doctor walks in and I am SO happy. This is it!!! I pushed the hardest I have ever pushed and my baby literally popped out of me like a champagne bottle cork! They put him on me while cleaning him off but all I could think about was the pain I was feeling downstairs. The doctor pulled out the placenta and it was the best feeling ever. Now time for stitches. I tore so bad all the way to my butthole! I felt every stitch but was a little distracted at this point with my boy on my chest. He looks exactly like his daddy and I love it. Here is Hollis. Born on January 3 2018! 6 pounds 10.2 ounces and 20inches long!

Now that we are home I hurt so bad where the stitches are. 😩 It was worth it though to have this sweet boy. ❤